The just-begun EuroBasket tournament features a slew of faces familiar to NBA fans, some still in the league, others not. Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas, a native of Lithuania, just inked a four-year, $64 million extension and is an important piece on a playoff team; Ukrainian big man Kyrylo Fesenko hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2012. But in their matchup on Saturday, Fesenko threw down this two-handed dunk over Valanciunas:

That has been the contract extension debate for players around the league this summer. For players such as Jonas Valanciunas and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the answer was yes. For Tristan Thompson, the answer is no.

“Obviously, those are two guys that we like moving forward,” Ainge said. “So, yeah, there will be more discussions with both of them, probably during the month of October.”

Zeller, 25, appears the most likely of the three to be in line for an extension. The 7-footer averaged 10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds last season and shot a team-high 54.9 percent from the field. Zeller’s win share of 6.5 — a metric that measures the amount of victories contributed by a player — was the highest on the team.

Sullinger, who averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 58 games last year, is still just 23. But he already has had back and foot surgeries, and his conditioning has been a frequent issue. Sullinger has been training in Houston with former NBA player and coach John Lucas for much of the summer and has shared pictures of his apparently trimmed-down physique through social media. But his return to Boston for preseason training will be most telling.

By the three, they are also discussing Perry Jones, but he has to make the roster first (the Celtics have to cut one guaranteed contract and he could be that guy). Even if he does make it there is no extension in his future.

Zeller can take the security of a deal with the Celtics, or bet on himself and become a restricted free agent next summer when two-thirds of the league has max cap space and will be looking to hand out deals. Zeller averaged 10.2 points a game with a very efficient true shooting percentage of 59.2 percent. He had the second highest PER on the Celtics last season (behind Isaiah Thomas), and Zeller led the Celtics in win shares (6.5). He’s a guy Ainge wants to be part of the Celtics’ future. Of course, the question becomes what’s the number that makes Zeller sign? Big men get paid, would something near Kidd-Gilchrist’s $52 million be enough?

As for Sullinger, he averaged 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a game last season but that doesn’t mean everyone is sold on him. He has battled injuries through his career, which may make him inclined to take the security of a long-term deal. But again, it’s all about the number that works for both sides.

If I were a betting man, I’d expect there’s a better than 50/50 chance a Zeller deal gets done. Not so sure about Sullinger.

Bradley Beal has made it clear. He thinks he’s a max player, and that’s what he wants. I’ve talked to people on both sides all offseason about this. It seems to be Bradley Beal’s decision. The Wizards are willing to make him an offer an extension. But they’re not going to offer him the maximum extension right now simply because they don’t have to.

The Wizards are taking the right approach.

Beal might be worth a max contract next summer. More likely, he’ll probably command one from someone. So many teams will have max cap space.

There’s a risk he’ll stumble this year, though. He hasn’t yet had a fully healthy season, and that’s the biggest reason for concern. He also takes too many long 2s and doesn’t get to the line enough. If you don’t have to pay him the max now, why do it?

Beal will be a restricted free agent next summer, so he’s not leaving Washington until 2017 at the earliest unless the Wizards allow it. There’s a chance he takes the qualifying offer, but the odds are very low. He could also seek a shorter offer sheet in free agency that will allow him to bolt in 2018 or 2019, but again, the odds are low (though substantially higher than him taking the qualifying offer). The risk of either is not high enough to offer a max extension now.

Plus, delaying will give the Wizards extra cap room next summer. Beal’s cap hold would be $14,236,685. A max contract projects to start at $20,947,250. If Washington waits, it can use that extra $6.7 million in cap space and then exceed the cap to re-sign Beal. That extra money could be handy for luring Kevin Durant or, if Durant goes home, a supporting player who wants to follow the superstar to D.C.

It wouldn’t be imprudent for the Wizards to offer Beal more than his cap hold now, but they need to get some savings in return. There should be no rush to give Beal the max. Washington should use the final season of his contract to evaluate him and his health further. The Wizards can always offer the max next summer – and it’d be shocking if Beal rejected it then just because he didn’t get it now.

Force Beal to take less now in exchange for the security of a deal. Jonas Valanciunas and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist seemingly took that safe route.

And if Beal wants to bet on himself and play out the season without an extension, that’s fine too. Good thing, because it seems that’s the direction we’re headed.

Of course, Beal could always blink before the Nov. 2 extension deadline. If he’s willing to take less than the max, he shouldn’t tell the Wizards until he gets the best offer possible from them.

Washington, on the other hand, should hold firm with less-than-max offers.

Only 8.9 percent of his shots came from three (and he shot just 28.9 percent on them, although that jumped to 34 percent after the All-Star break). Instead, 56.6 percent of DeRozan’s shots came between 10 feet out and the arc, and he shot just below 38 percent on those. While the league-wide pushback on midrange jumpers can get taken too far, if you’re going to take them you better make them. Nobody complains about Dirk Nowitzki’s midrange shots — more than 60 percent of his shots are from 10 feet to the three-point line, but he hits nearly 48 percent of them. DeRozan is dynamic when he can attack the rim, but if there are obstacles in his way he too easily settles for a midrange jumper he does not hit.

“(NBA three-point leader) Kyle Korver told me the three-point shot is just more repetition. The more you shoot it, the better you’ll get at it. I feel like if DeMar will keep working on it, it will eventually come,” Carroll said…

“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of other things he worked on in his game and he’s a dominant offensive player (already),” Carroll said. “So I think if he adds that three-point to his game it’ll take us over the top.”

The Raptors have overhauled their roster to become more defensive minded — that’s why Carroll was their top free agent target. They wanted a quality wing defender, and they got one of the best.

With this new roster look for even more threes — the Raptors were ninth in the NBA in three-pointers attempted last season and made a respectable 35.2 percent of them (12th in the NBA). If, as expected, Toronto starts Kyle Lowry, DeRozan, Carroll, and Patrick Patterson around Jonas Valanciunas, that’s potentially four three-point shooters on the floor around a big who demands a double in the post. Throw in a quicker pace (the Raptors were bottom 10) and the chance to get a few more threes in transition, and the Raptors could be bombs away from deep this season. Which will be a good thing, especially if DeRozan knocks them down.

The Raptors needed to make changes, their unimpressive first-round playoff exit (and the second half of last season) made that clear. But transitions are rarely smooth, and there are going to be some bumps early on for the Raptors as their focus shifts. Especially if those threes don’t fall for a stretch.

How much do the Raptors value Ross? They just signed DeMarre Carroll to push Ross from the starting lineup. I doubt they’ll invest heavily in Ross at this point.

Ross regressed last year after making nice progress in his second season. He shot worse, still did a woeful job getting to the free-throw line and again suffered too many defensive breakdowns.

For the second straight year, Ross was terrible in the playoffs. That can be attributed to a small sample, but there’s no way to spin it as a positive.

Ross underwent offseason ankle surgery. Toronto should know better than me whether a lingering injury excuses some of his struggles or there are concerns about Ross’ athleticism going forward – or both.

Still, Ross is just 24 and talented. If he’ll accept a smaller extension in exchange for security, this might be the right time to buy low on him.

Many teams fall into the trap of paying a player based on the optimistic projection of his future. As long as the Raptors focus on a realistic projection, they’ll be OK.